Gillian Berrie

Gillian Berrie
Nationality	Scottish
Occupation	Film Producer
Organization	Sigma Films
Website	http://www.sigmafilms.com

Gillian Berrie is a Scottish film producer and co-founder of the Glasgow-based production company Sigma Films with director David Mackenzie.^[1]

Berrie also founded the production and post facility Film City Glasgow which spearheads indigenous production in Scotland.^[2]

She also started the charity Jumpcut which is dedicated to giving young and underprivileged people access to working in the film industry through a pop-up film school that creates an intensive, mentor-lead fast track into the industry for those without any chance of access.^[3]

Career

When starting out, Berrie worked on numerous no budget / low budget productions in many different capacities in order to gain experience in the industry.

Berrie wrote and produced David Mackenzie's California Sunshine (1997) and Somersault (2000), both multi-award winning shorts. During this period, Berrie also worked as a casting director on Ken Loach's My Name is Joe (1998) and Lynne Ramsay's Ratcatcher (1999).

She then embarked on a number of collaborative feature projects with David Mackenzie which began with The Last Great Wilderness (2002). The film was co-produced by Zentropa ^[4] and premiered in Toronto in 2002.

In 2004, Berrie co-produced Shona Auerbach's Dear Frankie starring Emily Mortimer and Gerard Butler. It premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and competed in Un Certain Regard at Cannes as well as screening at many other international film festivals.^[5] The film was nominated for various awards at numerous ceremonies including BAFTA, BAFTA Scotland and the European Film Awards.^[6]

Berrie continued nurturing the relationship with Zentropa by co-producing the likes of Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself (2002), Dogville (2003), Brothers (2004), Dear Wendy (2004), Manderlay (2005) and After the Wedding (2006).^[7] This collaboration has received numerous plaudits from critics with awards and recognition from the likes of BAFTA, BAFTA Scotland, Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Awards.^{[8][9][10][11][12]}

Together with Zentropa's Sisse Graum Jorgensen and Lars von Trier, Berrie developed the Advance Party Project^[13] which was specifically designed to give directors their first break at feature film level. It produced Andrea Arnold's Cannes-Jury-Prize-winning Red Road (2006) ^[14] and Morag McKinnon's BAFTA-Scotland-winning Donkeys (2010).^[15]

Berrie and Mackenzie's second feature film collaboration was Hallam Foe (2007), starring Jamie Bell and Sophia Myles. It won many awards including a Silver Bear in Berlin 2007,^[16] the Golden Hitchcock and Kodak Award for Cinematography at the Dinard Festival of British Cinema 2007,^[17] and the 2008 National Board of Review Award for Top Independent Film,^[18] as well as numerous other nominations including for Bell and Myles' performances.^[19]

Berrie and Zentropa collaborated again to make David Mackenzie's sixth feature film, sci-fi romance Perfect Sense (2011).^[20] The film follows a romance between Ewan McGregor and Eva Green against the backdrop of a global epidemic where people are losing their senses one by one.^[21] The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011 and picked up numerous awards at film festivals around the world including Edinburgh, Bratislava and Philadelphia International Film Festivals.^[22]

Immediately after Perfect Sense, Berrie produced the Mackenzie directed the comedy musical You Instead (2011) [released as Tonight You’re Mine in the US] starring Luke Treadaway and Natalie Tena. Remarkably it was filmed over four and a half days at the Scottish music festival T in the Park in 2010 where the cast and crew had to adopt a kind of guerrilla filmmaking approach to shoot amidst the chaos of a music festival alongside over 100,000 revellers.^[21] It premiered at both T in the Park in 2011 and at Austin's SXSW.^[23]

Next, Berrie produced Mackenzie's Starred Up (2013), starring Jack O'Connell, Ben Mendelsohn and Rupert Friend. The story is based on writer Jonathan Asser's real-life experiences as a voluntary therapist in a London prison.^[24] The film was critically acclaimed and won numerous awards including the BAFTA Scotland 2014 Best Film and Best Director Awards,^[25] seven BIFA nominations ^[26] and holds a remarkable 99% Rotten Tomatoes score.^[27]

Berrie also co-produced Jonathan Glazer's highly regarded Under the Skin (2013) starring Scarlett Johansson. The majority of the film was shot undercover with hidden cameras and non-actors in real locations in Scotland.^[28] The film had its World Premiere at Telluride at the same time as Starred Up, then played Venice Film Festival and has since picked up over 20 awards and 90 nominations internationally.

Berrie is currently exec producer on a TV pilot called Damnation for the USA Network which is being directed by David Mackenzie. ^[29] Described as an epic saga of the secret history of the 1930s American heartland, it chronicles the mythic conflict and bloody struggle between big money and the downtrodden, God and greed, charlatans and prophets. ^[30]

In 2002, Berrie received the BAFTA Scotland Outstanding Contribution Award for her achievements in the Scottish film industry.^[31]

In 2014, Berrie received an honorary doctorate from the University of the West of Scotland for her contribution to film, culture and the arts.^[32]

Filmography

Awards

Academy Awards

BAFTA Awards

BAFTA Scotland Awards

Berlin International Film Festival

British Independent Film Awards

Cannes Film Festival

References